Even though the state plans to spend $900 million in renovations and construction projects for school, small and rural school districts across Arizona can't get the attention of engineering, architectural firms and general contractors.

In the Kingman Elementary School District, a request for proposals on a $6.2-million project went unanswered. Not one general contractor in the state submitted a bid. The situation is the same in about a dozen other small school districts around the state, says Phil Geiger, executive director of the state's School Facilities Board.

With so many projects going on at one time, most construction, engineering and architectural firms are going after the larger projects. In the larger districts--those in Phoenix and Tucson--several firms compete against one another to land projects. Most firms have plenty of contracts on go now that the state has enacted the Students FIRST program, which earmarked $900 million in funding for school construction projects.

School districts may have to begin advertising their projects to out-of-state firms so that the market can remain competitive and the prices lower, Geiger says.